Interrogation
by beifongfirebender
Summary: The story of how Lin tried to "throw Pema in jail"


_**Please enjoy my version of what happened when Lin tried to "throw Pema in jail". I tried to keep it lighthearted, but come on, we're talking about Linzin breaking up! There is no way to spin a positive light on that.**_

 **oooooooooo**

Pema tried to be good her entire life. Even as a child she was always obedient, clean and quiet. She never copied someone's homework, never stayed out past curfew and never _borrowed_ money from her mom's purse. And as an adult, nothing changed. She was still as conscientious as always.

That's why it was such a shock to her when her car was stopped just as she was finished with her morning grocery shopping. She came to a full stop and awaited the officer without a worry on her mind, since she was quite sure she had all the necessary documents on her, as always, and she was way under the speed limit.

"Ma'am, do you know why I stopped you?" the officer walked over to her.

"No, not really, Officer…"

"Huang. Officer Huang. And you were making a lot of curves back there for a straight road. Are you intoxicated?"

"I beg your pardon!"

"Have you been drinking, ma'am?

"It's not even noon." Pema said, acting like her honor was just insulted.

"Officer Kun, write it down, _refusing to answer questions_." Huang yelled back at his partner in their patrol car.

"Oh, spirits. No! No, I haven't been drinking, Officer." Pema waved her hands to gesture how serious she was.

"Please, keep your hands on the steering wheel at all times or we'll be forced to bring you in."

Pema obeyed as Huang looked around her car.

"Remain still as we search your vehicle." added the other police officer as he walked over.

"Hey, you can't just-" Pema turned around to see what they were doing.

"Hands on the steering wheel!" Officer Kun yelled.

"The suspect seems to be so intoxicated she can no longer control her actions." Huang opened the car door on Pema's side, "Step out of the vehicle with your hands held high, ma'am."

"But-"

"Now! Slowly. Then put your hands on top of the car."

Pema obeyed, but at that point she was livid. How dare they call her intoxicated? She'd never been intoxicated!

What she didn't know at that point was that those two officers, Huang and Kun, had known Lin Beifong since she was just a little kid, doing her homework in her mom's office. They worked for Toph first and now for Lin, and after all these years they thought of Lin less like a boss and more like a sister.

Of course, they knew Pema, too. Since Tenzin was a kind of local celebrity, his relationship with Lin was public knowledge, as was their recent break-up. The newspapers left out no details, not even Tenzin being involved with Pema while he was still dating the Chief. Lin never let anyone see anything get under her skin, but they both knew Tenzin hurt her. Tenzin and this woman.

That's why Huang decided to play a little joke on her. Nothing dangerous, of course, just to show her not to mess with the Beifong Police Force ever again. His partner quickly caught on to the joke and was playing along even thought he had no idea what Huang had planned for Pema in the end. Whatever it was, she more than deserved it.

Huang slowly made his way to the back of the car and popped open the trunk. It was full of vegetables, fruit and not much else, but he proceeded to reach for something anyway. To Pema's great surprise he pulled out a bag filled with some kind of leaves.

"That is not mine!" Pema said immediately after realizing what that was.

Kun looked over to his partner, looking for a sign on what to do. Yes, this was fun and she totally had it coming, but planting drugs? Well, too late now. Might as well see the pathetic look on her face.

"Pema, you are under arrest for the possession of illegal substances." Kun tried to take her wrist, but she pulled away.

"No, you have to believe me, it's not mine!"

"And we have to add resisting arrest to the charges as well." Huang said and took out his handcuffs.

"But really, I've never done drugs in my life!" Pema yelled as Huang pinned her against the car to handcuff her.

"So you're admitting to selling drugs? I'll put it in, don't worry." Kun said before helping his partner lead Pema to the back seat of their patrol car.

"You know what, K, I'm so glad we ran into her today." Huang said after he was sure she couldn't hear them from the car.

"But what do you think Lin will do when she sees what we're doing?"

"I don't know, laugh I hope… She's out all morning for a meeting, we can do whatever we want till then."

"So what were you thinking, like fake interrogation?"

"Absolutely. Where's she from originally?"

"Earth Kingdom."

"Oh, we're gonna have some fun."

 **oooooooooo**

Lin was having a good day. A great day. Well, a decent day. Her meeting went smoother than she'd hoped so she took the time to stop and eat lunch before returning to the office, instead of eating at her desk like she did almost every day.

She entered the station with her tea in hand, feeling all kinds of good about today and headed for her office. Then just as she was getting near, she saw him, waiting for her in front of the door. Tenzin. She didn't really see much of him since the break-up. Well, since the whole Air Temple Island fiasco, anyway. It was just a few months ago, but her and Tenzin weren't separated for that long ever since they were teens. Until now. She even made an effort not to look at those blasted newspapers, but that was not to avoid his face, but rather that woman's.

But they definitely weren't on speaking terms now, so what did he want with her? She knew Tenzin, and he would do anything to avoid an awkward situation, so whatever he needed he would have gotten from somebody else. Then a thought popped into Lin's head. Maybe he came to see her because he was sorry. Maybe he came because he wanted her back.

Lin only had a few short moments to think about that, before Tenzin turned around and spotted her coming. Then she noticed his head was that special shade of red it got when he was really upset. He wasn't here to win her back after all…

"You know, Lin, I knew you were having a hard time, but this- My mother was really understanding about the Island, but this is way too much! We're talking about a human being's life here! I never knew you could be so sadistic!" Tenzin charged at her, but Lin didn't budge.

"Hey! Can you stop whining for long enough to explain what I did to disturb your airbender fairytale life?" Lin interrupted him, but tried to keep her voice calm.

"Oh, don't pretend you don't know!"

"Would you just spit it out already, Tenzin?"

"You had Pema arrested for no other reason than your petty revenge!"

Oh, of course! Why else would he be here than for that woman?

"I did no such thing. I wasn't even here today. But we don't bring people in for no reason, believe me. What were her charges?" she didn't want to help him, not really, but she did want this conversation to end as soon as possible.

"I…" he stuttered suddenly, "I'm not sure. But she's innocent!"

"So what you're saying is that you have no idea what she was arrested for, but you know she didn't do it?"

Tenzin realized how ridiculous that sounded, but nodded anyway. After hours of arguing with police officers, he was at the end of his patience.

"I'll go and ask around. I'm sure it's just a misunderstanding."

 **oooooooooo**

Lin felt like a complete idiot going around asking about Tenzin and his new girlfriend. She did have to get over it eventually, but she didn't have to actively help them stay together. She was so mad for agreeing to this. The only thing worse would be if she actually planned their wedding or offered to babysit their kids.

"Kun, stop!" she saw the officer she was looking for at the end of the hall.

"Yes, Chief?" he seemed a bit squirmier than usual.

"I'm looking for a woman that was arrested today and they told me you and Huang were the only ones to bring someone in while I was gone. Her name is Pema, she's about this tall, young, kind of mouthy."

"Yeah, we got her."

Kun led Lin behind the two-sided mirror of one of their interrogation rooms. At first Lin didn't understand why they were there, since that room was closed off for remodeling, but she soon realized they didn't want anyone there to see what they were doing. In the room she recognized Pema, dressed in something that resembled a table cloth, standing on her left leg while trying to balance a rock on each of her hands, her forehead and right foot. Her one grounded leg was beginning to shake already, since the position she was in was really unnatural for her.

"Yeah, yeah, but I'm still not convinced you're not Fire Nation." Huang shook his head before pulling out a few cards, "Which of these looks the most appealing to you?"

"Please, Sir, I told you, I was born in the Earth Kingdom! I'm just not an earthbender. Please!" Pema pleaded.

"I'm sorry, but I see no other way for you to prove you're not a Fire Nation spy, than bending one of the other elements. Now if you would just work with me…"

"What?! What did you arrest her for?" Lin asked behind the mirror.

"It started as a drug abuse charge, but we've turned it into so much more…" Kun said, "Now it's up to terrorism and plotting to assassinate a councilman."

"Wait, so she didn't use drugs?"

"Of course she didn't, Chief, but we know about _other_ things she's done. She ain't innocent." Kun said before looking back at Pema and Huang in the interrogation room.

"You picked the Dai Li symbol, which would usually be a good choice, but now it's making me think they're the ones that sent you." Huang told Pema.

"For the hundredth time, I'm not a spy! I'm not an earthbender!" Pema slammed her fists on the table, which gave Huang a great opportunity to bend the rocks that were lying on the floor and send them flying across the room.

"See, no non-bender can do that." Huang pointed and Pema made an infuriated sound, like the one a four-year-old makes while having a tantrum.

"Stop this, now!" Lin told Kun who immediately called his partner from the room. Then all three of them went to talk behind the mirror and Huang explained the whole situation.

"So you've just been torturing her all morning?" Lin asked at the end.

"Well, if you wanna call it that…" Huang shrugged.

"What were you thinking? This is illegal in so many ways! And what is she doing right now?" Lin glanced at Pema in the room alone, crawling across the floor.

"Picking up sand to prove she's a sandbender." Huang smirked.

"That's not OK. And what in the world is she wearing?"

"Oh, those are our _interrogation robes_."

"Since when do we have-"

"Since today. They're basically just a white sheet with a belt and pants. She hated them. Clever, huh? Entirely Kun's idea." Huang was a little surprised Lin didn't appreciate what they were doing for her.

"I see what you were trying to do, but this is really too much. She doesn't deserve this." Lin headed for the door.

"We know they hurt you, Lin." Kun said and she stopped.

"I'm fine."

"We know you're not." Huang added, "You haven't been the same since it happened. And we know we really can't do much to fix it, but we thought we could at least bring you a smile and a little justice."

Lin sighed, "Did you give her anything to eat, drink?"

"Yes, she's not being hurt at all. She's just a bit frustrated." Kun explained.

"And how exactly were you planning to finish this?"

"We would send her to the prison outside the city," Huang paused, but then continued after seeing the look on Lin's face, "But we wouldn't file the paperwork so they'd just hold her for 24 hours and then be forced to release her."

"That's unacceptable. Councilman Tenzin is in the station right now demanding her release." Lin explained.

"Look at her," Huang pointed at Pema, who was disgustedly trying to shake all the sand off her, "I think _Princess_ over there deserves to spent a night in jail."

If Lin was being perfectly honest, she was considering it. Not one of her proudest moments, but it was what it was. She really was having a hard time lately. And Tenzin was so quick to blame her, like she was the one who betrayed him and not the other way around.

After Lin gave the OK, Kun went back to Pema's room with two glasses of water. Just as Pema was reaching for one of them he splashed her right across the face with it. Pema was so shocked her face even managed to get a chuckle out of Lin Beifong. Something Huang was overjoyed to see.

"Sorry, I just thought we ought to try waterbending as well." Kun said, "But clearly I've made a mistake."

He paused for a few seconds allowing Pema to wipe the water off her face.

"No one can bend if they're surprised. I should have told you beforehand… Let's try again. I'm about to splash you with water."

And Kun did, making Pema's _interrogation robes_ completely wet. At that point Pema was done begging, done denying and done apologizing. She stood up, stepped closer to Officer Kun and stared crying her heart out into his uniform.

Behind the mirror, Huang looked over to Lin awaiting her reaction.

"We've gone too far." the Chief concluded.

It somehow didn't feel good anymore. It was tainted.

"Call Kun back in, we have to figure out how to get out of this." she continued.

 **oooooooooo**

Tenzin was nervously pacing in place, right where Lin left him when she returned with another police officer, Huang.

"This is the man who arrested your… Her." Lin said.

"Who gave you the right?" Tenzin got into Huang's personal space before realizing that man, even though he was older, was definitely capable of knocking Tenzin out with one swing.

"Calm down, Sir. Please. I excluded her from traffic earlier today because she was driving in an intoxicated state and endangering other drivers. I brought her here and had to wait for her to sober up to be able to fill our paperwork. She was unconscious."

That was the story he settled on with Lin earlier. It explained the arrest and any crazy stories she might have about the interrogation.

"Where is she now? I demand to see my fiancée!" Tenzin yelled out, forgetting Lin was there too.

Fiancée? Fiancée! They were engaged? When the hell did that happen?! Lin thought she was going to be sick. As for Huang, he was certain he could physically hear Lin's heart breaking. They were executing a plan until then, but he just couldn't take it. Lin's been through enough!

"Unfortunately, she was sent to a prison facility just outside the city before we realized her lab results were lost. We have nothing to charge her with, she's free to go as soon as we alert the prison."

"Then do that!"

"Don't worry, the Chief will write you a pass and you can go pick her up there immediately." Huang started walking away.

"Don't think I don't know you're behind this, Lin!" Tenzin turned to her, "I know they don't do anything without your say-so. I won't forget this!"

"You know what, Tenzin, neither will I!" Lin walked after Huang and waited until they were far enough to ask him why he strayed from the plan.

"He just pissed me off, OK!" Huang defended himself.

"You know I could suspend you for this?" Lin threatened, but her heart wasn't in it.

"Come on, Boss, we just send her to the prison now, write him that document and he'll arrive just in time to get her out."

Lin gave him a nod, since they were already too deep in the lie. And there was no way she'd arrest him for this. He just wanted justice, which is in a police officer's job description. Besides, there was no way she would walk out of that situation blameless. She was already pardoned for the things at Air Temple Island, she doubted she'd be that lucky a second time.

So she signed the stupid pass for Tenzin, and had Huang deliver it to him, since the last thing she wanted to see was Tenzin and Pema reuniting right here in her station. She couldn't stomach that today after everything.

Many years ago she let her sister and her mother leave her life because Tenzin was her family. Tenzin was her home. And then suddenly, a few months ago, she felt it all. Being alone, having no one. She'd always remember that time as the hardest in her whole life. Yet, this was the day it all got better. Maybe it was just coming to terms with Tenzin never coming back to her. Maybe it was the two idiots whose childish prank showed her people still did care. She still had bad days, Tenzin's wedding being one of the worst, but it started getting better.

 **oooooooooo**

 _ **This is not being continued or anything, just thought it might be fun. I don't hate Pema or anything like that, I just think she's a little young for Tenzin and I ship him with Lin way more.**_

 _ **Comments will be oh so very appreciated… :)**_


End file.
